Two first graders force 7-year-old girl to perform sex acts at Ohio charter school

The Children’s Services department in Lucas County, Ohio has launched an investigation after a 7-year-old first grade student said that two of her classmates forced her to perform sex acts on them at a charter school.

Rise and Shine Academy CEO Dr. Pat McKinstry told WTOL that the school first learned of the incident when a student reported that something “nasty” was happening in one of the bathrooms.

According to the mother of the victim, two girls, ages 6 and 8, asked her daughter to perform sexual favors on them.

“My daughter is considered the victim,” the mother told WTOL. “They think that they bribed my daughter into doing things… Not once but twice. And the first time she said she didn’t say anything because she was scared.”

The school, however, said that only one of the girls instigated the incident, and she had not been allowed to return to class.

“We have not let that child come back,” McKinstry pointed out. “It’s disheartening, it’s sad to me that we have to terminate her if her mother would not be honest enough to get this baby some treatment.”

The teacher responsible for the children was reportedly no longer working at the school because she violated rules about monitoring students while they were in the bathroom. And the school has created a new school policy that only allows one student to be in the bathroom at a time.

McKinstry said that a psychologist had been called in to help the students cope.

“This incident, even though it happened, these 6-year-olds’ innocent minds are only reacting to what they have been exposed to,” McKinstry explained.

But the mother of the victim said that her daughter would not return to school until more actions were taken.

“Something needs to be done,” she insisted. “Especially if they’re not keeping a close eye on the children and this is what’s going on at the school.”

A statement from the school noted that the incident was “still under investigation.”

“We’re not at liberty to discuss further details, but additional policies have been put into place to ensure the continued safety of our children,” the statement said.

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David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.